Iron Heart
by gracelessheart96
Summary: <html><head></head>No Curse. AU. Princess Emma is kidnapped by someone working for the Evil Queen, but before she can be handed over to Regina the ship she is on is overtaken by Captain Hook's crew. What will happen to Emma? Will she ever make it back home?</html>
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or the characters in it.

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><p>Freedom. That's all Emma really wanted in life and as a princess freedom was nowhere to be found. Most people would assume that a princess would have all the freedom in the world and they would be wrong. Her days were spent learning how to be a proper princess and walking through the gardens and her nights were spent attending dinners with boring royals from neighboring kingdoms. Everyone in the Enchanted Forest knew the story of Snow White and Prince Charming and how their daughter, Princess Emma, was the product of true love. The tale of adventure and romance always seemed to get applied to Emma too no matter how many times she explained to people that she has in fact never been in love or left the palace. Growing up the palace had been a place full of wonders and excitement, but as she began to near adulthood the palace felt more and more like a claustrophobic prison.<p>

Once Emma turned eighteen she finally accepted she would forever live her life inside the walls of a palace, never being able to experience adventure like her parents had. She decided if she was ever going to have any kind of excitement in her life she would have to go out and find it herself. Slowly, she started to memorize the schedules of the guards and her parents, and after a few weeks Emma felt confident that she would be able to leave the palace undetected once her parents had fallen asleep. Once she made it outside the palace walls and into the nearby village Emma found herself feeling happier than she had ever been. It was the first time in her life she felt like she could truly breathe. Every night after that Emma would leave the palace undetected and return just before dawn.

On the night of her nineteenth birthday Emma left the palace feeling overwhelmed and emotionally drained. She had spent the last hour fighting with her mother over the big announcement made that night. A ball had been thrown in honor of her birthday and all of the royals and dignitaries from the nearby kingdoms had been invited. Her father had told her that morning at breakfast that he was planning on making a big announcement at the party that night and that he hoped she liked it. The only thing Emma could think at the time was "I really hope he's not telling me I'm going to be a sister." Little did she know that would have been more preferable to the actual announcement. By ten p.m. the party was in full swing and Emma's feet were beginning to grow sore from all of the dancing. Out of the corner of her eye Emma saw her father stand from his throne and begin to address the room.

"My wife and I would like to thank you all for joining us to celebrate our daughter's nineteenth birthday. Emma means the world to us and some day we know she will rule this kingdom well. A part of being able to rule a kingdom well is having the right person by your side to help you rule. And so with that said, my daughter will need a strong prince by her side for when she becomes queen. Prince Neal will be able to be that person by Emma's side as she rules over this kingdom."

Shock overtook Emma as she heard her father's announcement. Suddenly arms were snaking around her waist and a glass of Champaign was placed in her hand as the room erupted in applause.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters associated with it.

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><p><em>Shock overtook Emma as she heard her father's announcement. Suddenly arms were snaking around her waist and a glass of Champaign was placed in her hand as the room erupted in applause. <em>

Slowly Emma came out of the dense fog of shock she had found herself in after hearing her father announce she was to marry Prince Neal. The arm that was still around her belonged to said prince who was smiling and laughing like he hadn't a care in the world. Emma briefly wondered how he could be so cavalier about all of this. They didn't even know each other and now they have to get married! She didn't even know his middle name! It was then that Emma realized she was the only person unaware she was to be engaged that night. Although, she certainly didn't feel like she was engaged, no, more like she was cattle being sold to the highest bidder. All Emma wanted to do in that moment was throw the still untouched glass of champaign in her hand at the nearest wall. The urge to stomp her feet and scream obscenities at her parents in front of everyone before storming out of the ballroom with a door slam as her grand exit was overwhelming. Unfortunately, tantrums were not becoming to a lady and after spending her life learning how to be a proper lady Emma simply pushed the feelings down until she could be alone and let them fully take over.

After an hour of being congratulated on what they called exciting news and what Emma felt was more of a prison sentence, Emma had finally had enough. She politely excused herself from the people around her and slowly made her way towards the ballroom doors. Once she had finally reached the exit to her own personal nightmare a hand found its way to her shoulder and turned her around. She was now face to face with the one person she now hated more than anything. Prince Neal.

Emma shrugged his hand off her shoulder with disgust as she looked up at him an impatiently.

"Your father sent me to find you. The last dance is meant for us, to celebrate our engagement."

"Look, Neal," Emma began, crossing her arms and advancing on him in a way she hoped was at least a little bit intimidating. "I want to make it very clear to you that I am only marrying you to fulfill my royal obligation. Just don't fool yourself into thinking that we'll get married and someday fall in love and live happily ever after. You signed away your right to happily ever after when you signed a contract for my hand."

By the end of her little rant Emma's face was flushed and her finger was still poking his chest from where she had used it to punctuate her last few words. The smile that had graced Neal's face all night had been replaced by a look of fear of the woman in front of him. Feeling satisfied Emma turned and walked back to the door calling back over her shoulder to Neal, "Oh, and you can tell my father to dance the last dance himself because I sure as hell am not." And with that she was gone, completely missing the look of terror that crossed Neal's face at the thought of having to return to the King and Queen to explain that Emma would not be joining them for the rest of the night.

That night Emma spent hours on the rooftop of a house staring at the horizon line where the stars met the ocean. The events of the past few hours rushed through her mind. She had been so excited for the ball for weeks. She had spent hours preparing and she had asked her handmaids to make her a new gown out of the beautiful green silk that had been brought in from the market. Going in to the ball everything was perfect, the ballroom was decorated with cream and silver, her hair had been curled and pulled up into an elaborate up do, and the new gown fit her like a glove. Emma felt as if she were floating on a cloud all night and that nothing could bring her down. That was, until her father's announcement suddenly brought it all crashing down. It wasn't as if arranged marriages were totally uncommon, but she was the product of true love for God's sake! She always thought she would be able to find love on her own terms. Prince Neal was nice enough she supposed. She had only met him once before her birthday and that was only from across the breakfast table. It was kind of difficult to get any kind of meaningful conversation started with your mother staring you down because you were "eating like a horse" as Snow liked to put it. She couldn't help it if her one true love was food, being a lady be damned, if there was food all etiquette went out the window.

It didn't matter how nice Neal might be though, she didn't want nice. Nice was a word used to describe things when you were trying to be polite. If Emma was sure about anything it was that she didn't just want nice. She wanted someone who was passionate and kind, someone who wasn't afraid to call her out on things, someone who made her laugh, and most of all someone who looked at her the way her parents looked at each other no matter the circumstance. Suddenly all of the anger Emma had been dwelling on washed away and she felt as if she was drowning in sadness. Grief for all of the things she would never be able to have and acceptance that she would never be able to change that.

Once dawn threatened to break through the horizon Emma begrudgingly made her way back to the palace. Sneaking back into the palace always seemed easier than leaving. Perhaps it was because the guards knew their shifts were about to be over and they had begun to slack off or maybe it was just that the first rays of sun shining onto the palace made what she was doing seem less wrong and secretive. As she opened the doors to the palace her mind was suddenly alert to the fact that the entryway was unusually bright, Emma quickly realized all of the candles in the front of the palace had been lit. There was barely enough time for Emma's brain to register the fact that her parents and Neal were in front of her, all wearing matching expressions of worry, before her mother was bursting into tears in Neal's arms and her father was yelling at her. Emma's heart sank knowing that she would not be able to leave the palace alone again, for now she would be watched like a hawk and after seeing Neal waiting with her parents she knew he would be living with them until the wedding.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters.

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><p>Breakfast the next morning started off strangely quiet. It seemed as though everyone was waiting for someone else to make the first move. Finally, Snow couldn't take the silence anymore, "Emma you did a wonderful job choosing the decorations for last night. It was beautiful."<p>

Emma froze. Thought of the ball came flooding back and the only word she could bring herself to say was "thanks." Ignoring Emma's lack of exchange Snow moved on to make small talk with Neal. With Snow and Neal occupied Emma's father turned to her with a look of disappointment and worry etched across his face.

"Emma, sweetheart, when we discovered you were missing last night we were so scared something had happened to you."

Looking down at her small hands grasped in her father's, she felt guilt begin to swell in her gut.

"I'm really sorry about last night. I was safe and I really didn't mean to cause you to worry about me. I assumed everyone was asleep and wouldn't notice. I'll make sure to let the guards know where I am next time so you won't have to worry." Emma said, looking up at her father with a reassuring smile.

There was a long pause before her father began to speak.

"That's the thing though Emma. We love you and we don't know what we would do without you, what this kingdom would do without you. So we have to keep you safe no matter what. Your mother and I have decided it will be in your best interest if we find a guard to be placed outside of your wing of the palace at all times."

It was the second time in two days Emma felt shock overtake her body. The raw emotions seemed to seize her body before she could control them and before she knew what she was doing she had sprung from her chair, alerting Neal and Snow to the conversation that was unfolding. All she saw was red as she turned to face her father who was now standing in front of her.

"First you decide who I will marry without even consulting me and now you want to have a guard around to keep me in line? Why don't you just throw me in a tower for the rest of my life? That would be more preferable than this!"

Emma's hands were clenched into fists and her face had become flush with anger and yet her father stood before her calm and patient as if he had known she would react this way.

"The decision has already been made. We begin interviewing today. We will see you in the throne room at 2."

With that Emma spun on her heels and stormed out of the room.

The interviewing process was as boring as Emma had thought it would be. Guard after guard from kingdoms all around stood before the four royals answering question after question. After a while all the guards seem to blur together. They were all dressed in uniform, giving diplomatic answers to every question, and trying to impress her parents with their tales of heroics and bravery. Emma's mind had drifted off about an hour ago from the interviews to what could be for dinner when the last guard of the day was announced. Instantly he stood out from the rest. Where all the others were clean shaven and well-tailored this man was not. His chin was covered in scruff and although he was wearing a uniform it seemed to Emma that he wasn't altogether comfortable in it. It was as if it was his first time wearing it. The guard seemed to have stood out to her parents as well because he was stationed outside her room as she left for dinner that night.

By dinner that evening all that had happened that morning had been forgiven. Dinner in the palace was always a lovely affair full of lively conversation and laughter. That night was no different and Emma couldn't help but think that Neal fit in with her family well and so maybe marrying him wouldn't be so terrible. Emma left dinner that night feeling full and content. After bidding the new guard at her door goodnight Emma went to sleep feeling optimistic about her future.

The first thing Emma noticed when she awoke was that she was no alone in her room. Assuming it was her handmaid bringing her fresh clothes for the day, Emma sat up only to find that it was still dark outside. The next thing she knew there was a hand over her mouth and the very recognizable voice of her guard telling her not to scream. As scared as she felt in that moment Emma couldn't help but think about how ironic the situation was. There was a rustling of a bag and the guard held a fine pink powder under her nose. The guard chuckled to himself as he whispered, "Sleep well princess," and everything slowly began to fade to black.


End file.
